No variation allowed to County Development Plan
PRAISE was lavished on Greystones golfer Paul Dunne in the council chamber on Monday after his remarkable win at the British Masters the day before.
‘He is only 21 years of age but is a great all-rounder,’ said Cllr Gerry Walsh. ‘He played soccer, tennis, GAA and golf. He won under-age Championships with Eire Og.
‘He is a great ambassador for Greystones, Greystones Golf Club, County Wicklow and Ireland. It was a fantastic achievement.’
Cllr Nicola Lawless was in agreement.
‘It was a great achievement for such a young man,’ she said.
She was also complimentary towards Blessington brothers, Sean and Conor Price for their achievements so far on X Factor.
‘ They are through to the next round and are really putting Wicklow on the map.’
Cllr Brendan Thornhill was keen to raise the Bray link to Paul Dunne’s victory.
‘ They say behind every man is a good woman, well behind every golfer there is a good caddie – in this case Darren Reynolds of Bray.’
Meanwhile, Cllr Shay Cullen congratulated Glenealy on their hurling success and Laragh for winning the Junior A Championships.
‘It’s a great achievement for two small villages and both teams deserve a huge amount of credit.’
Cllr John Snell described it as a ‘great weekend for sport in east Wicklow’ and praised the Declan Byrne managed Laragh for landing their first champi- onship in 27 years.
‘At Wicklow Municipal District we recently installed a footpath out by Laragh GAA Club and the manager told me afterwards that it was instrumental in achieving the championship win,’ said Cllr Snell. He went on to joke, ‘If they start winning senior championships then we might have to pass a motion to take the path back up.’ A SECOND legal opinion sought by Councillors has reaffirmed that they cannot request a variation to the County Development Plan regarding restriction zones for wind turbines.
Last year, the majority of councillors voted in favour of an exclusion zone for wind turbines of at least 1,000m from any residential properties. However, the Department of housing, Planing, Community and Local Government, issued a draft directive demanding that the restriction be removed from the Development Plan.
After receiving a second legal opinion confirming that the elected members can’t make an amendment to the plan, Cllr Joe Behan said that the Goverment had effectively ‘ tied our hands when it comes to wind energy’.
‘I am shocked we can’t even request a variation of the County Development Plan,’ said Cllr Behan.
‘It effectively gives all the power to unelected officials. The democratic right of this policy we voted in favour of has been set aside. We need to send a copy of that advice to our five TDs and ask for their comment on the fact that the will of councillors expressed democratically by the elected members has been set aside.
‘I can’t understand how we can make a Development Plan but can’t get a variation, we can’t even try to get it implemented,’ said Cllr Behan.